Letter to the Editor

Danskammer proposed compressor stations

By Nora Gallardo, Wallkill
Posted 2/13/20

On Feb. 6, about 40 people demonstrated in the rain with signs, homemade drums, and chants in front of the Danskammer office on 181 South Plank Road.

Danskammer representatives have submitted …

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Letter to the Editor

Danskammer proposed compressor stations

Posted

On Feb. 6, about 40 people demonstrated in the rain with signs, homemade drums, and chants in front of the Danskammer office on 181 South Plank Road.

Danskammer representatives have submitted their application to continue steps toward increasing the use of out of state fracked source gas, including building another plant near-by the present one in the Town of Newburgh. Compressors are needed to boost pressure so the gas keeps flowing. This recently submitted Danskammer application includes compression stations.

“Gas compression will be required to increase pressure to 700 psig (nominal) when pressure in the supply line is lower than this level. Gas compressors will be located in the Auxiliary Area and are expected to be constructed, owned, and operated by Danskammer.

The public should be told of these compressor locations because:

- Air quality and health assessments need to be done prior to construction.

In Minisink, located in Orange County, NY, there was a natural gas, 12,260 horsepower compressor station built. After it was built, local residents lost in court their request to close it due to an increase of noise, nosebleeds, headaches, asthma, and rashes found to be caused by the volatile organic compounds and higher particulates in the air. They lost because there were no pre-construction air quality or health assessments done before the plant’s construction!

A Southwest Penn. University health article 10/12/17, stated that “compressors emit: nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide, organic compounds, and formaldehyde. The 18 compressor stations located in New York State are the 7th largest ‘point source’ of air pollution in the state. “

According to “Fore River Residents Against The Compressor Station (FRRACS),” a community group in South Shore, Weymouth, Mass, who are also facing a fracked gas compression station construction, and whose members have been arrested for blocking the site, “normal operations spill 10 cancer-causing chemicals into the air, and property values would be reduced 25-50%. These stations spill chemicals from two to five miles into the surrounding area.”

- The area around a compressor will be affected environmentally. In another Penn. State article, “Understanding Natural Gas Compression & Stations” (3/26/15), it noted that compressors generate a lot of noise to surrounding neighbors, significant light and traffic occur during construction & operation, plus reduced tree growth occurs on forested land where soil was disturbed.
In conclusion, there are alternate non-fossil fuel projects to replace gas fracked fuel. The Town of Saugerties has opened a new solar power site consisting of 7,000 solar panels, and the town is buying, for their electricity, 40% of its total output. Highly skilled laborers already in the fossil fuel industry could be trained to do such work, where jobs are predicted to grow.

On 1/23/20 at the “Red Barn” in Beacon, Scenic Hudson held a meeting to bring groups together to prevent the expansion of the Danskammer plant with such organizations represented as Orange Rapp, Beacon Seed, Water Action, Extinction Rebellion, and Clearwater. The people will not be silenced.